


One Night

by tinknevertalks



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode Tag - Pax Romana, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-04 19:24:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13371501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinknevertalks/pseuds/tinknevertalks
Summary: Helen's back from Praxis to find Nikola on her couch.





	One Night

**Author's Note:**

> Another prompt from DownToTheSea on Tumblr. This was for, 'One falling asleep with their head in the other's lap.' I hope you enjoy.
> 
> And, as always, a big shout out to my most wonderful beta, Rinari7. Thank you for being so awesome.

“Nikola? What’re you doing?” Helen asked wearily, stopping just inside her bedroom door. Sitting near the fire, he held his hand to the flames, frowning every so often when it got too hot and he had to pull away. He sighed, as dramatic as always, and Helen relaxed slightly.

“I appear to be waiting,” he told her, not turning to face her.

“Oh?” she asked as she walked into the room, further taking in Nikola’s state. Everything was there but not really. His hair looked spikier (not his styled coiffure), his jacket was tossed haphazardly over the arm of the sofa, his shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows, and his usual shark like grin was subdued. One leg, stretched out in front of him, crossed the other at the ankle, apparently nonchalant, but the bone china cup (and the matching teapot) betrayed him. Helen grimaced. In all the excitement of surviving Hollow Earth, she had forgotten him, stuck here. “Nikola…”

“No, I know I had to stay behind,” he told her, trying for his trademark smirk and missing the mark entirely, making him look ill. “Johnny teleporting off like that... And you say I’m dramatic.” He stared into the fire for a moment, then turned to face her. He looked haunted, and her heart cracked at the expression. “Are you…?” He waggled his index finger up and down her body, his hand staying close to his chest.

She nodded. “All better, after our brief period of being dead.” She shook her head to stop Nikola’s questions. “We’re all fine now. We won’t be welcomed in Praxis anytime soon.” Sighing, leaning backward, she looked over at him, the worry darkening the haunted look that clouded his eyes. “Really, Nikola, we--”

She didn’t get to finish her sentence, the air forcibly expelled from her lungs as he wrapped his arms around her. He pressed his face into the crook of her neck, holding her tight, almost as if he was afraid. Gasping slightly, understanding his need for comfort (squeezing him close, just as hard), Helen stroked his back, trying desperately to help without words, to show she really was well again.

Both would deny the tears.

It was some time later, after they loosened their hold of each other and swapped the tea for something stronger, that Nikola asked about Praxis. Not the people, or the adventuring, or even Helen’s daring mission, but the city.

She sighed, trying to find the words as Nikola watched her. “It was vast, just like the hologram. So many abnormals…”

“But?” he asked, his elbow on the back of the sofa, his head in his hand.

Helen shrugged slightly, echoing his position. “It was different.” She smiled and quirked her eyebrow, a small bubble of happiness growing in her chest at Nikola’s questioning expression. “They had zeppelins,” she explained, “and a transport system that put The Great Glass Elevator to shame.”

He blinked, then laughed. Helen grinned, moving to put their glasses on the table as Nikola yawned deeply. Suddenly, she didn’t want the evening to end. Her bones ached for bed, exhaustion making itself known to her, but that meant being alone. Usually she was the first to sequester herself away.

_Usually Nikola isn’t here waiting for me, looking like that. Oh bloody hell, that’s a dangerous thought._

“Ah Helen,” he sighed, turning on the sofa to lie down, his head on her thighs, his bright blue eyes staring unseeing at the ceiling. Unbidden, her hands started stroking his hair.

“I am sorry you missed the ‘splendour’ of Hollow Earth,” she murmured, making his hair look hedgehog like from her ministrations.

“Eh,” he sighed, brushing away the word with a wave of his hand. “I’m just glad you’re back in one piece.” They left his sentence hanging in the air, his hand on his stomach, hers still in his hair, stroking, letting the silken strands flow between her fingers. The knot in her stomach loosened with each pass of her hand, the crackle and snap of the fire lulling her tired body into Morpheus’ embrace.

A light snore broke the atmosphere. With a start, Helen looked around, trying to figure out where the sound came from. _What time is it?_ Another snore, from her lap. Looking down, she smiled - Nikola had fallen asleep. _This won’t do._ “Nikola?” she whispered, tickling his ear. “Nikola?” she tried again, sing-songing his name.

“I’m awake, _draga_ ,” he muttered, curling up into her, his arm wrapping around her hip.

“Come to bed,” she said, folding over him to whisper in his ear.

“Yours?” he asked, still half asleep, his face against her abdomen.

“Could you walk to yours?” she asked back, laughing quietly when he groaned and shook his head. “I think we could both do with some rest.”

“Just rest?”

His head was off her stomach, and as much as she liked being caged on the sofa by his body, a lassitude had washed through her. With hooded eyes, she grinned lazily at him. “I couldn’t do anything else even if I wanted to.”

He sighed, and smiled back. “Neither could I,” he admitted. Clumsily, he got to his feet, pulling Helen up shortly afterwards. He opened his mouth but no sound came out. Shrugging, he hugged her again, bunching up the material of her clothes under his hands.

“Go. I’ll be there now,” she whispered, not moving, save to hug him back.

“I’ll be waiting,” he murmured, nuzzling her neck.

She rolled her eyes, moved out of his arms and watched him, just for a moment, as he walked to the bed undoing the buttons of his waistcoat, from top to bottom, getting ready to sleep. She knew this could blow up in her face, but she needed one night where she wasn’t alone. Turning away, she entered her _en suite_ , closing the door to a crack.

In pyjamas, teeth brushed, she re-entered the room, chuckling slightly at the sight. Sprawled on his stomach on her bed, not even under the covers, lay a snoring Nikola. “Awkward bastard,” she whispered in his ear as she shoved his arm gently out of the way, getting into bed.

“Magnificent, you mean,” he murmured as he curled up around her, getting under the covers himself.

“Goodnight, Nikola.”

In the semi-darkness of her room, his arm over her waist, she smiled as he kissed her shoulder. “Back to reality in the morning?” he asked drowsily. ‘ _Do I have to let you go?’_ she translated.

She didn’t answer. Back to reality? She didn’t know. She just knew that tonight she was alive and wasn’t alone. “Goodnight,” she repeated. And although she ached for sleep, it eluded her until long after Nikola had succumbed.

**Author's Note:**

> Uh yeah, if Google translate did me wrong... Blame it, not me.


End file.
